Learn Hardcore Croatian: Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice. - Let her wear a dress today, and I will wear pants and sneakers.

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.

Let her wear a dress today, and I will wear pants and sneakers.

Breakdown of Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.

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Questions & Answers about Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.

What does neka mean in this sentence, and how is it different from the word neka meaning “some/a certain”?

In Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, neka is a particle that expresses a wish, suggestion, or a soft command. The meaning is roughly:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu = Let her wear a dress today / She should wear a dress today.

This neka does not have a direct English equivalent; it’s like saying let or may in front of the verb.

There is another neka which is an indefinite pronoun/adjective meaning “some / a certain”, e.g.:

neka haljina = some dress / a certain dress

You can tell them apart by structure:

neka + (subject) + finite verb → particle (let / may): Neka on dođe. = Let him come.
neka + noun → “some / a certain”: neka žena = some woman

Why is the verb after neka in the present tense (nosi) if we are talking about “today” as something to be arranged or decided?

With neka, Croatian uses the present tense form of the verb, even though the meaning is about what should happen (often in the near future or later the same day).

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu.
Literally: Let she today wears a dress.
Natural English: Let her wear a dress today / She should wear a dress today.

The construction neka + present tense expresses:

a wish: May she wear a dress today.
a soft command/suggestion: She should wear a dress today.

So grammatically it’s present, but functionally it’s a volitional mood (wish/command) rather than a simple present time statement.

What is the difference between Neka ona danas nosi haljinu and Neka danas nosi haljinu without ona?

Both are correct, but there is a nuance:

Neka danas nosi haljinu.
Neutral “Let her wear a dress today” (subject is clear from context).
Neka ona danas nosi haljinu.
Adding ona (she) gives emphasis/contrast:
Let *her be the one who wears a dress today (not someone else / not me).*

Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb ending. Using ona here is not required for grammar, it’s used to stress who should do the action, often in contrast:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.
≈ Let *her wear a dress today, and I will wear trousers and sneakers.*

Can the position of danas be changed, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, danas (today) can move around; Croatian word order is flexible. Possible variants:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu. (original)
Neka danas ona nosi haljinu.
Neka ona nosi haljinu danas.

All are grammatically fine and mean essentially the same: Let her wear a dress today.

Nuances:

Placing danas earlier (Neka danas ona…) can slightly highlight today.
Keeping it after ona (Neka ona danas…) sounds very natural and neutral.
Putting danas at the end (…haljinu danas) can emphasize the time a bit more.

But there is no major change of meaning; it’s mostly rhythm and slight emphasis differences.

Why is there a comma and the conjunction a instead of just i between the two parts of the sentence?

The sentence is:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.

a is a conjunction that often means “and” with a contrast, something between and and but. Here:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu
→ Let her wear a dress today
a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice
→ and I, on the other hand, will wear trousers and sneakers

The comma separates the two clauses, and a signals a contrast between what she will wear and what I will wear.

If you used i instead:

… i ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice

it would sound more like just adding information, with less sense of contrast. a highlights the difference between her in a dress and me in trousers and sneakers.

Why is it ću nositi in the second part and not some other form? How is the future tense formed here?

The second part is:

ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice = I will wear trousers and sneakers.

Croatian future tense (futur I) is usually formed with:

short future auxiliary of “htjeti” (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će) + infinitive

So:

ja ću nositi = I will wear
ti ćeš nositi = you will wear
on/ona će nositi = he/she will wear

Here, ću is the auxiliary for ja (I), and nositi is the infinitive “to wear”.

You can also change the order in speech and informal writing:

Nosit ću hlače i tenisice.

Both ja ću nositi and nosit ću are correct; the difference is just word order and register (the shortened nosit is more colloquial).

Why do we have nosi in the first part, but nositi in the second? Are they different tenses or forms?

Yes, they are different forms of the same verb nositi (to wear / to carry):

nosi – 3rd person singular, present tense: he/she wears / is wearing
nositi – infinitive: to wear

In the sentence:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu
→ nosi is a present-tense form used together with neka for the “let her wear” meaning.
a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice
→ nositi is the infinitive used with the future auxiliary ću.

So:

neka + present tense → volitional (“let her wear”)
ću + infinitive → normal future tense (“I will wear”)

Why is haljinu in the singular, but hlače and tenisice are in the plural? Can I say hlaču or tenisicu?

This is a mix of grammar (case) and lexical habits:

Case: all three are in the accusative (object) case
- haljinu – accusative singular of haljina (dress)
  nominative: haljina → accusative: haljinu
- hlače – accusative plural of hlače (trousers)
- tenisice – accusative plural of tenisice (sneakers)
They are all direct objects of nositi (wear).
Number: why plural for trousers and sneakers?
- hlače (trousers/pants) is normally plural only in Croatian, just like trousers in English is plural in form.
- tenisice (sneakers/trainers) is also usually used in the plural, referring to the pair of shoes.

You could say:

hlača (singular of hlače) – but this is rare and usually refers to one leg of the trousers, in technical or very specific contexts.
tenisica (singular of tenisice) – used if you really mean one sneaker/shoe, e.g. Našao sam jednu tenisicu. (I found one sneaker.)

In the context of what you’re wearing, you almost always say:

hlače (trousers)
tenisice (sneakers)

Why is it haljinu and not haljina? How do I recognize the case here?

Haljinu is the accusative singular form of haljina (dress).

haljina – nominative singular (dictionary form): a dress
haljinu – accusative singular: a dress as the direct object

You use the accusative for the direct object of most verbs:

Vidim haljinu. = I see a dress.
Kupujem haljinu. = I am buying a dress.
Neka ona danas nosi haljinu. = Let her wear a dress today.

So the change -a → -u signals that haljina is the thing being worn (the object), not the subject of the sentence.

What exactly does nositi mean here? Is it “to wear” or “to carry”? Could we use another verb?

Nositi has both meanings in Croatian:

to wear (clothes, shoes, accessories)
- Nosim haljinu. = I am wearing a dress.
- On često nosi kapu. = He often wears a cap.
to carry (physically)
- Nosim torbu. = I am carrying a bag.

In this sentence, nositi clearly means “to wear”:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu = Let her wear a dress today.
ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice = I will wear trousers and sneakers.

You could use other verbs in different nuances:

obući (perfective) = to put on (clothes)
- Neka ona danas obuče haljinu. = Let her put on a dress today. (focus on the act of putting it on, not on wearing it all day)
imati na sebi = to have on (one’s body)
- Neka danas ima na sebi haljinu. = Let her have a dress on today.

But nositi is the natural, neutral verb for “to wear (clothing)”.

Is tenisice specifically “tennis shoes”, or can it mean any sneakers/trainers?

Literally, tenisice comes from tenis (tennis), so historically it meant “tennis shoes”. However, in modern everyday Croatian:

tenisice is the common word for sneakers / trainers / athletic shoes in general, not only for playing tennis.

So:

Nosim tenisice.
→ I’m wearing sneakers / trainers.

It does not have to be a literal tennis shoe; it covers most sporty casual shoes with rubber soles.

Why is the subject pronoun ja present in a ja ću nositi, if subjects are often dropped in Croatian?

Croatian usually omits subject pronouns when they are obvious from the verb ending:

Ću nositi is not correct, because ću alone is ambiguous; but you could say:
- Nosit ću hlače i tenisice. (subject “I” is clear from ću and context)

However, in this sentence:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu, a ja ću nositi hlače i tenisice.

the pronoun ja is used for contrast with ona:

ona – she
ja – I

So it’s:

Let *her wear a dress today, and I, on the other hand, will wear trousers and sneakers.*

The pronouns ona and ja both appear to highlight who is doing what, and to contrast the two people.

Is there any difference in tone between Neka ona danas nosi haljinu and something like Ona će danas nositi haljinu?

Yes, there is a difference in tone and function:

Neka ona danas nosi haljinu.
- This is a wish / suggestion / mild command.
- It sounds like: Let her wear a dress today / She should wear a dress today.
- It expresses what the speaker wants or decides.
Ona će danas nositi haljinu.
- This is a plain future statement.
- It means: She will wear a dress today.
- It sounds more like a neutral prediction or a plan, not a suggestion.

So neka + present adds a volitional meaning (speaker’s desire/decision), while će + infinitive is just factual future tense.